


Love at Morse Code

by tazzmatic



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Morse Code, cafe setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-04-29 20:47:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14480883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tazzmatic/pseuds/tazzmatic
Summary: Zoro walks into a cafe to get out of the rain. He didn't expect to have a conversation with some kid through Morse code.Modern AU.





	1. Walking into a Cafe

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a random idea I had while talking to my bestie. I take liberties with the use of American Morse code so don't take it seriously, please.

Zoro was annoyed. No, not annoyed. Pissed. With a capital “P.” It had begun to rain- hard- and Zoro didn’t bring a jacket with him. He was soaked within seconds. Normally, he would have just forced his way on home, but he had very important paperwork this time and so he dunked into the closest shop along with everyone else who was unlucky enough to be caught out in this downpour. 

This particular shop was a small cafe that smelled heavenly, but was automatically docked a few points thanks to the dumbass barista who had glared at him, apparently for dragging his soggy self within the blondes domain. 

Whatever. Fuck him. 

Getting himself a hot chocolate (because it's awesome; shut up!) Zoro found a corner seat and tried to blend into the woodwork to wait for the rain to let up. Thankfully, the paperwork wasn’t ruined and Zoro figured he might as well start on it while he waited. 

That was an hour ago. 

Now he had a headache as the small cafe began overflowing with more people than it could probably handle. He had managed a total of four pages (out of twenty) in between exchanging insults with the shit-for-brains blonde whenever he came by to refill Zoro’s drink. On one trip he even left behind a blueberry muffin, claiming it had “fallen on the floor, and I figured a marimo-head like you would still enjoy it.”.  Zoro had flipped him off and scoffed, but ate the muffin with gusto to the guys obvious enjoyment.) 

With a sigh, Zoro rubbed at his eyes and tried to get the words on the paper to stop moving around. His headache intensified instead. 

Of course, the loud conversations that constantly overlapped each other certainly didn’t help him any. That’s not even mentioning the constant tap-tap-tap noise he could just make out over the den of shouts and laughter. 

Wait a second…

Zoro’s head snapped up as he glanced around the room. No one really caught his eye among the many groups of teenagers (school must have just let out) and young adults grabbing coffee before heading out to work. He swore he heard...well maybe he was just imagining it. Really, what were the odds anyone would….

No! No, there it was again! 

He had to strain his ears a bit, but he could just make out the code. 

…   .- -.   -.-. . . 

_ Sanji _

-...   . .. . .   -. --. --   .

_ Bring me _

.-.   . . .  . ..

_ Food!  _

Zoro frowned. Sanji was the name of the rude, blond, right? He had seen a name tag the last time blondie came around, and he was fairly certain that was his name. Zoro’s green eyes flickered around quickly catching sight of the man standing at the counter and flirting with several of his female customers while expertly ignoring the annoyed glares of the males around him. 

Zoro’s lips twitched as the message repeated itself. Curious now, he took a deep breath, picked up his pen and began tapping out his own message. He was rewarded a few seconds later as a dark-haired teen wearing a straw hat jerked his head up to look around wildly. Narrowed eyes and frowning, the boy began a new message. 

_ Who are you? _

Just a fellow customer.

The kid huffed. 

_ You are new. Or you never answered before. _

This told Zoro the kid was a regular and probably sent that message to swirly-eyebrow every time he was here then. 

First time. Rain.

He watched the kid nod slightly and glance out at the pouring rain that didn’t seem to want to let up anytime soon. Zoro lightly ducked his head as he watched the kid look around trying to find him. 

_ Where are you? _

Here.

_ Asshole.  _

Zoro snickered at the response and watched the kid pout. He seemed determined to ignore Zoro now as he appeared to start on his homework once again (Zoro assumed anyway what with all the textbooks surrounding him). 

Only slightly disappointed as that was the most excitement he’d had in months (he didn’t get out much; his sister called him awkward and his dad said “reserved”). Zoro went back to struggling with his own work. 

_ What is two times 108? _

Zoro didn’t really give it any thought as he absently answered; too busy trying to understand his own question. 

_ Wow! You must be really smart!  _

Zoro blink. Huh?

What? No. Not really.

Glancing at the kid, Zoro watched him frown. 

_ Sure. You knew the answer. _

It's not hard.

_ Is too! Math sucks. _

Zoro chuckled as he continued watching the kid frown down at his work. At some point fucktard must have finally found time between his flirting to bring the poor guy his order as there was a plate of cookies and a drink beside him now (he wasn’t sure why, but Zoro had the strangest feeling and he dearly hoped it wasn’t coffee in that cup). 

School can be rough.

_ I know! No one listens to me though! _

You can do it. 

_ I guess. So does that mean you are out of school? _

Yeah.

_ You’re not some sick old guy who gets off on little kids are you? _

Do you see any old guys in here? And you are a teenager. And how do you know I am a guy? I could be female. 

Zoro wasn’t really sure what made him say that, but he groaned as he watched the kid laugh. It was a really nice laugh. Weird, but nice. 

_ You do not seem like a girl.  _

That makes no sense. 

_ Sure, it does! Plus, there are no girls here who seem to be talking to a stranger. But there are a few guys.  _

Zoro gulped and lightly doodled in a corner on whatever page he should have been trying to finish, but really he was having way too much fun talking to this kid. The kid was trying his best to find Zoro and Zoro wasn’t sure why that made him so nervous. Once the kid found him would he continue talking to Zoro or just leave? Zoro hated the sick feeling in his gut that let him know he really wanted to be able to talk to the kid again. He didn’t even know his name (or his age, but he couldn’t be that much younger, right?) 

_ Did I make you nervous? _

What? No! Why would I be nervous?

_ Why are you hiding? Are you shy? That so cute! _

Not cute!

_ Are you blushing? _

He was. 

Of course not, dumbass!

_ You are! _

Mind your own business!

Never mind that Zoro was the one to start the entire conversation. Shy? Cute? He wasn’t either of those things. No matter what his family said. He just…..didn’t get along with people. He didn’t know how to act around them; talk to them. That didn’t mean anything was wrong with him! 

_ You are so blushing! You have green hair, right? Its cool.  _

Zoro tensed, snapping his head up, he glared fiercely into mischievous grey eyes. Giving the kid his meanest scowl simply caused him to laugh and wave, which, okay, that was certainly a new response. Besides his dad (who gave even worse looks) and his sister (who would just hit him) everyone else just tripped over themselves trying to get away. 

_ You are cute! _

Zoro proceeded to choke on air and glared at the kid some more. 

Not! Cute! 

The kid pouted at him. 

_ You are too! Really cute! Do you think I am cute? _

Zoro blinked, not really understanding where that question came from. The kid continued to pout at him and he had a feeling the faint heat on his face wasn’t going away any time soon. 

Sure?

He thought the kid was beautiful. Perhaps not in the typical way, but Zoro could just see how bright and airy the kid was; could already see how cheerful, how happy he was talking to a complete stranger. He was like the sun forcing its way through a cloudy day to shine down on the miserable inhabitants. Not that he was telling the now frowning kid any of this. Shit. Why was he frowning?

_ Yes or no. Am I cute? _

 

 

Yes.

With just the slightest of hesitation, Zoro answered and watched the kid beam with happiness. Zoro sternly told his heart to slow down. They couldn’t keep talking to the kid if it suddenly decided to give him a heart attack. 

_ Great. I am cute. You are cute. It all works out! _

What does?

Zoro really had no idea what the kid was on about (and he still wasn’t cute, damnit). However, the kid suddenly pulled a phone out and began frowning  as he typed away. With a nod and a pout he hastily tapped a quick message before messily shoving his school work in a bag and rushed out the door with a quick bye to the annoying blonde. 

Zoro absently finished off his now cold drink and wondered how much money he was going to end up losing to this place just so he could talk to that kid again. He grabbed his own paperwork and returned a lazy wave to the shit-barista flipping him off as he walked out the door. Ignoring the name above the door, Zoro tried to memorize landmarks so he could find his way back before heading home in the now thankfully clear sky. 

Making that place a regular would definitely be worth it. 


	2. Walking Outside A School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been three weeks since they first saw each other. Sanji is annoyed. Luffy is pissed. Zoro is just confused. He doesn't remember agreeing to anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh. My Gosh! Thank you all so much for the kudos and the review and just reading this story! I'm just so happy! I hope you all like this chapter too! 
> 
> THANK YOU FOR READING!!!

Sanji lit a new cigarette as the batch of chocolate muffins finished. As he began pulling them out of the oven he heard the familiar ding alerting him someone had just entered his shop. Setting the muffins on a cooling tray, Sanji casually snubbed out his cig in a nearby ashtray while in the same motion grabbed a toothpick to replace it. 

“Welcome to Bara Cafe. How may I be of servi- oh, it's you.” 

Sanji eyed the black-hair teen moping at the counter. Sighing, he grabbed a plate full of cookies and muffins before setting it next to the pouting boy. He then made a fresh cup of hot chocolate (he was never making the mistake of giving Luffy coffee again) and set it on the other side. 

Luffy continued to sigh morosely. 

Annoyed, Sanji slapped him on the back of the head. 

“Get over it already! Shitty idiot. Look, Luffy, if the green-haired dumbass hasn’t come back yet then he’s not going to. Frankly, he wasn’t worth your time anyway.” 

Truthfully, Sanji wasn’t sure what Luffy had even seen in the half-drowned man who had dragged himself into Sanji’s shop. Sure, the marimo-head had managed to put up with his own special brand of catering than any other customer ever had and the idiot certainly knew good food once he ate it (despite trying to pretend otherwise), but its not like the scowling man had been incredibly gorgeous or anything. Satisfactory, maybe. 

And obviously a fucking retard. 

“Luffy, shit, it's been three weeks, yeah? You saw the guy once,  _ once _ . You didn’t have a proper conversation with him. You didn’t even learn his name. What made him so special for you to act like this?” 

Because seriously, for a guy Luffy didn’t even know, he sure was acting as if his entire world had ended. Luffy hadn’t even given Cavendish more than an hour- tops- when they had broken up and learned Cavendish was dating some weirdo a week later. 

But this shitty green-haired bastard? Who Luffy had only seen, not talked to (he didn’t care what Luffy said about “morse code”), but seen for a few hours? With each passing day the fucker hadn’t shown back up in his shop Luffy had become more depressed and no one had any idea how to help. It just wasn’t Luffy. 

“Does Nami-chan know you’re skipping class again to wait here?” 

“What did I do wrong, Sanji?” 

“Eh?” Sanji blinked. 

“Why hasn’t he come back?” 

Sanji gave a frustrated grunt, “I repeat: you didn’t even talk to the guy. So you couldn't have done anything wrong. I don’t know why he hasn’t come back. But really, Luffy, you should just forget about him already. And….why are you so interested in him anyway?” 

“I just…” Luffy trailed off and gnawed at his bottom lip. He slowly raised his hand and covered his heart. “I just feel it, Sanji.” 

“Feel what?” 

But Luffy just shrugged and stared helplessly at him with those big, grey eyes before eventually turning to stare out the window; constantly searching for any sign of the man he had foolishly fallen for in an hour. 

Never did Sanji want to go hunt a guy down and kill them more than he did in that moment. 

 

\---

 

Luffy doodled mindlessly on a blank sheet of paper while the teacher droned on about some war he didn’t really care about. He knew he would have to pay Nami later for her notes if he had even a shred of hope of passing this class, but Luffy just really couldn't bring up the energy to care. 

He just couldn’t figure out why the guy hadn’t come back. He had definitely been interested. Luffy hadn’t imagined that. And yeah, Luffy had to leave in a hurry if he wanted to see Ace off, but he had told the guy to meet again, right? Right. Luffy was sure he had tapped it correctly. 

But then why didn’t he return? 

It was so frustrating! Luffy knew everyone was worried; that they had no idea why he was so hung up on this. Truthfully, Luffy couldn’t explain it either. 

He thought it had been hilarious when he realized someone else in the cafe knew Morse code and knew what he was doing as he was trying to get Sanji’s attention. And yeah, the guy was an ass at first, but he had answered Luffy’s question without hesitation and then encouraged him to do better in school. 

Then Luffy finally spied him in the corner blushing, looking awkward as hell; it was the cutest thing Luffy had ever seen. He wanted to immediately go over and hug the green-haired man. And then when he had looked up and their eyes met for the first time- his pulse had quicken, it had become hard to breath, he had no idea how he managed to simply smile at the man. 

Luffy’s entire being had just shifted; the odd ache that had always been in his heart had disappeared and Luffy had felt complete for the first time in his life. 

It was exhilarating. 

And he knew, Luffy  _ knew _ this man was the One with a capital “O” that everyone always talked about. It was instinct. And Luffy always followed his instincts. 

Luffy was sure the other man had felt it on some level as well. 

_ So then why wasn’t he showing back up!?  _

With a frustrated grunt, Luffy glanced out the window. Outside the gate was a man walking lazily by, dressed in slacks and a dark grey vest over a crisp white shirt. 

Wait. A. Fucking. Second. 

Within moments, Luffy had the window open and was leaning dangerously over the edge, completely ignoring the bewildered class behind him. 

“WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN, YOU DAMN BASTARD!!!” 

The guy (shit did he look lickable in that outfit, so damn hot, he looked good in the ratty jeans and over sized tee at the shop, but this suit was tailored made to fit him and focus, Luffy) jerked to a stop and had the audacity to stare at him confused. 

“Hey! Its you!” 

“YEAH ME! HOW DARE YOU STAND ME UP?! WHERE THE HELL DO YOU GET OFF ON IGNORING ME, HUH?!” 

_ “Monkey-san! If you do not stop this insane yelling and return to your seat you’ll have detention for a week, understand?”  _

She was promptly ignored. 

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? STAND YOU UP? THE SHIT?” 

Growling, Luffy launched himself out the window ( _ “Monkey-san! Wait!” _ ) and quickly hopped down the side of school by grabbing each window sill he came across. Landing lightly on his feet, he marched toward the man (looking very impressed, yeah, that’s right handsome, he has skills) to yell some more. 

“Three weeks! I’ve been waiting three weeks at the Bara for our date! So where have you been?”

The guy spluttered, “date? What date? I don’t remember agreeing to that! A date was never even mentioned!” 

“Sure it was.” Luffy sighed, man his future husband was slow. “I think you’re cute. You think I’m cute. I said I’d see you next time. There you have it. A date. And I don’t appreciate my new boyfriend standing me up for our first one!” 

“That was not enough to signify as a date! Are you crazy?” He then began to choke. “Boyfriend!? What? How did you-? Mutual attraction does not automatically mean we’re dating! That’s just….” He huffed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t make decisions like that on your own, idiot. I don’t even know your name.” 

“Luffy.” 

“Eh?”

“Monkey D. Luffy. That’s my name.” 

The guy gave a breathy “oh” and stared at him. 

“Roronoa Zoro.” 

“Great!” Luffy beamed at him. Zoro really seemed to like that if the dazed look in his eyes were anything to go by (and Zoro, what a great name Zoro. Sounded strong). “Now can we go on our date?” 

“Eh?” 

Luffy rolled his eyes. Well at least he was pretty. 

“We’ve exchanged names now. So let's go on our date.” 

“Stop making decisions on your own! And you could ask me properly you know!” 

“Ooooh! Right!” Luffy silently scolded himself. Nami always said a gentleman should politely ask for a date. He should have remembered that sooner. “Would Zoro like to go on a date with me?” 

A light blush coated Zoro’s cheeks and he began fidgeting, “Uh. Well...su-sure.” 

“Great!” Luffy grinned, latching onto Zoro’s arm and beginning to drag him away. 

“W-wait! Now? You mean now?” He yelped, but gave no resistance to Luffy’s tugging. 

“Of course!” Luffy laughed. 

“But what about your classes? Your stuff?” 

“Eh. I’ll just get it from Nami or Usopp later. Hey! What were you doing here anyway?” 

“Um, I don’t know actually. Where is here? I was just going to take a walk around Shino Park.” 

“Shino Park?” Luffy gaped at him, subtly changing their course to head towards said park. “That’s five miles from here. Did Zoro get lost?” 

“No!” Zoro snapped, shifting uncomfortably. “The buildings must have moved. When I….wasn’t….looking.” 

“Riiiiiight.” Luffy drawled back, a suspicion beginning to form. “You still haven’t explained why you haven’t been back to the Bara either.” 

“Bara?” 

“The cafe?” 

“Ah. I never did get the name of the place. And I did try to go back. I just kept….getting distracted before I got there.”    


“You got lost, didn’t you? Does Zoro get lost a lot?” 

Zoro grumbled darkly and looked away before muttering a small, questionable “no?” 

“Shishishi.” Luffy laughed, squeezing Zoro’s arm before he finally let go and interlaced their hands. The dark look on Zoro’s face disappeared and he gave their hands an odd look before a gentle smile took its place. 

This was the best day ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As this was just a little idea with no real plot, I only wrote two chapters for it. I think it ends well enough on its own, but if I get another random thought I might try to add to it later. I don't know. Either way thank you, again, for reading this! :) 
> 
> Oh, and just random tidbit- Luffy is in his last year of high school. Zoro is dressed up cause he left an interview. And Sanji runs the Bara Cafe cause Zeff wanted him to know how to run a small business on his own before eventually handing over the Baratie restaurant.


End file.
